


Three Strikes

by Potatoe_Spuds



Category: Strange Magic (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Baseball, F/M, Softball
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-27 04:12:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7602931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potatoe_Spuds/pseuds/Potatoe_Spuds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marianne Summerfield has always loved Softball.<br/>That is, until she gets a new coach named Bog King, a hard-to-work-with ass, who seems to be trying to ruin her college experience on the Oregon State University softball team.<br/>...Or so she thinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Strike One

**Author's Note:**

> Eep! I'm super excited and a little bit nervous to be uploading this, as it's my first fanfic ever.  
> Since it's my first fanfic, upload times will be a little wonky, as I'm not totally sure about how my consistency with uploading/writing will be, especially when school starts back up.  
> If I make any mistakes regarding softball or baseball rules and such, please correct me. I have been playing softball for about 5 years (though this last year I had to take a break because school proved to be a bit more difficult than I could manage with things like sports), but I'm still learning!  
> As well, suggestions for improvement and pointing out any errors is totally appreciated! I hope you like it!

Marianne loved softball. It was her favorite pastime- especially when it also let her spend time with her younger sister, Dawn. 

Many people disapproved of Marianne's love of the "dangerous" sport- (which is ridiculous- what sport  _isn't_  even a _little_ bit dangerous?)- especially the people included in her dad's work.

Marianne and Dawn's dad, also named "Dagda" when Marianne or Dawn got upset (guess which one called him that more often), owned a large company in Portland, Oregon, the city that rained one moment and then shone blinding rays of sun the next. Although Marianne was riding a full scholarship because of her being on the OSU softball team and taking business classes to one day take over her father's business, most of Marianne's father's comrades disapproved of her attitude, decision-making, and basically anything else she ever did. Which is quite curious, as she has been passing all of her classes excellently, and she has also been holding a job up for the longest she's ever had, and has been sharing an apartment with her sister, who is also going to the same college as her.

But Marianne knew why they disapproved of her actions.

They disapproved because they didn't want Marianne Summerfield as a CEO. No, they wanted Roland Knight as a CEO.

Why would they want a lying, cheating, pig son of a bitch as a CEO? Marianne suspected because she was a female. And all of her dad's coworkers were old bags who all had stay-at-home wives and lived the "old fashion way", who were closed minded and selfish, willing to turn their backs on anyone to get what they want, or to get even the tiniest bit higher than anyone else.

And Marianne also suspected that they disapproved of everything she has done because of her sudden canceling of her wedding with Roland about six months ago. And because she had completely changed herself since then, because Roland had twisted her into a little nobody. And she didn't want to be a nobody; she didn't want to stay at home and take care of kids and clean house and play housewife while her husband went to work and came back late almost every night because he had gone home with his secretary before going home to his family.

Oh, no.

Marianne would rather die than have that life.

When Marianne caught her previous husband-to-be in  _their bed_ with some woman she had never seen before (or had she? Marianne had thought she looked a little familiar, but she dared not linger on it for any longer than need be) at  _their_ shared apartment, she had turned around and started turning herself back into who she used to be.

And that included picking softball back up.

And punching Roland in the face at least twice in the past month for not leaving her alone.

So, here she was, taking a deep breath as she looked at Dawn, who was standing on the pitcher's mound at their school's softball field.

Marianne looked down at her cleats and stuck one foot in the batter's box, shuffling it around lightly to kick away loose dirt that could make her slip, digging the small plastic mounds on the bottom of her foot into the ground a bit. She stretched across home place and tapping the side opposite of her with the tip of her bat before bringing her other foot into the box and squaring her shoulders. She lifted her elbows and bringing the bat up a little less than a foot away from her face, bending her knees a little while exhaling deeply. She kept her eyes on her sister as Dawn lowered her mitt, swung her arm in a large circle, hitting her hand on the side of her leg with a loud  _smack!_ , and released the ball in Marianne's direction.

Marianne waited until just the right moment, and swung with all her might, though her arms protested from swinging all day and working out so vigorously the day before and her legs screamed at her as she lifted her left foot a bit to put more weight into her swing behind her arms, and then-

-she missed. She instantly knew what she had done wrong as soon as she had shifted her weight forward, reaching for the softball that was flying a tad too far outside of her strike zone.

Marianne hissed under her breath as the ball smacked against the fence behind them and a rough, slightly accented voice sounded somewhere behind her.

"That wasn't your ball, Summerfield," called the voice. She turned her head to look behind her as she stepped out of the box, glaring at the tall, rough man who had been the source of said voice.

"Thanks,  _coach_ ," she spat the last word, frustrated by the uncharacteristic heat of early autumn, and the man behind her that was stating the obvious. He returned her glare, and she whipped her head back around, knowing she would either end the glaring war by punching him in that stupid face, or getting rid of that stupid sneering expression by covering his mouth in hers.

Marianne violently shook that last thought away, frustrated. How dare he provoke such thoughts?

Asshole.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Six months ago, Marianne and Roland were to be married. That is, until Marianne caught Roland basically rolling in dirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just for clarification, Marianne is 24, Dawn is 21, Sunny is 22, and Bog is about 30.  
> Oh, and royal asshat is 26.  
> I had a lot of fun writing this chapter! I hope you like it!

~~Six months ago~~

Marianne twirled in her shining white wedding dress that had swirls of silver around the hems, watching herself in the mirror as the skirts skimmed the floor near her feet. It was her wedding day, her smile was radiant, her amber eyes bright. She looked every bit a fairy tale's beautiful bride. Her long brown hair that, when down, brushed her behind, was done in a french braid that had been brought over her right shoulder. Her eyeshadow was done in a smokey way in a shade of light gray that brought out her eyes and made them gleam like real, expensive amber being held infront of a light. She chewed on her bottom lip, which had a coat of ruby red lipstick, as she twirled in a full circle. 

She looked behind her at the long, white and baby blue lace train that was roughly the same size as Marianne and trailed behind her when she walked. She stopped admiring her dress abruptly, seeming to be looking for something when her sister, Dawn, walked into the room carrying exactly what she was looking for; her vale. The vale itself was a work of art; matching the train, but more intricate, the hem the same shade of silver as that on her dress that clashed with the light baby blue that tied in with the lace nicely. The lace traced patterns of vines and flowers, primrose flowers to be specific. 

Dawn smiled at her older sister. "Marianne," she gasped, "you look gorgeous!" She squealed, skipping over to wrap her arms around Marianne.

Marianne replied by letting out a soft huff of laughter, quickly hugging her sister back. Her chest burst with contentment, excitement, and happiness. She had everything she ever dreamed of. A loving, supportive, wealthy family that consisted of her father and her younger sister. A handsome, honest man that loved her as much as she loved him; which all her heart and being.

But, with all of her positive emotions gleaming about her, a twinge of doubt buried itself in her stomach. What if Roland didn't really want this? What if... what if  _she_ didn't really want this?

Marianne furrowed her brows in worry. Dawn let go of her sister as she felt Marianne go stiff under her embrace. She tilted her head when she saw her expression of worry and-  _was that regret?_

"Marianne? Are you okay?" Dawn touched her sister's shoulder lightly and slid her hand to Marianne's bicep. Marianne turned her expression to Dawn.

"Dawn... Do you... do you think Roland loves me... as much as I love him?" Marianne stuttered, trying to find a way to put her feelings of worry and concern into words.

Dawn's face immediately lost all tension as she exhaled deeply in relief. Really, sometimes her sister worried about the silliest of things! "Oh, Marianne," she sighed. "How could he  _not_ love you?! You're so... totally..." Dawn struggled to find a word to describe her wonderful sister. Why were words so hard? She soon found a suitable word. "Loveable!"

Marianne's eyes softened at her sister's words. "Really?" She replied, a bit insecurely. 

Dawn smiled, her sentiment and love for her sister making her chest warm. "I wish you could see how you look," she gushed, tears that threatened to ruin her mascara before the wedding even _started_  coming to her eyes. Of course, Dawn knew that Marianne could just turn around and look at herself in the mirror, but she would never understand how startlingly  _gorgeous_ she was, not from her own perspective, at least.

Marianne smiled, tears also threatening to drop from her eyes as well, as she brought her sister into another loving embrace. After hugging Dawn for a while, Marianne suddenly remembered something. She released her sister and rushed to the small table standing on the other side of the room. She quickly opened the drawer and took out the sky blue colored rose, carefully holding it in her hand.

She turned to Dawn, a positively giddy expression on her face. "I got this for Roland! It matches my lace," she explained, walking over to Dawn to shown her. Dawn examined the boutonniere, her heart absolutely melting at the adorable gift. "Help me get out of my dress," Marianne said to her sister. When Dawn looked back up at her in confusion, Marianne explained. "I want to take this to Roland, but-"

"It's bad luck if he sees you." Dawn finished Marianne's sentence. Marianne smiled. Her sister always knew exactly what she was thinking. 

Dawn agreed, as they still had quiet a long while until the wedding started, and started helping her sister out of her dress, carefully hanging her clothing. Marianne quickly downed some leggings, an old t-shirt, and her old converse. Dawn and Marianne hopped into Marianne's car as they drove from the hotel they were staying at to her apartment.

When they got there, Dawn waited in the car while Marianne got out with the boutonniere in hand, jogging up the steps of the apartment complex, as the elevator would take too long and she was in a giddy hurry. Her excitement grew as she jogged closer to the door, fumbled with her keys to unlock it, and got inside. She quickly noticed that Roland wasn't in the livingroom, kitchen, or bathroom, and made a B-line for the bedroom. She ignored the sound of another woman, quickly dismissing it as the neighbors being loud, opened the door, and-

-Marianne's heart turned to stone and dropped into her stomach, the now large piece of rock shattering once it hit the pit like **glass**.

Her chest burned with conflicted feelings and thoughts- at first, confusion, then understanding, the feeling that she had been right to have doubt, how could anyone  _actually love her_ , anger at herself for the previous thought, this wasn't her fault, Roland was an ass, anger at Roland, anger at the woman, then seeing the shock on the other woman's face and immediately feeling sentimental, thousands of more thoughts and feelings...

...But she eventually settled on the feeling of emptiness, and how the emptiness somehow filled her body with numbness. The only thing she was aware of was the boutonniere in her hand. She looked down at it, her hand crushing the velvet petals of the rose, and she suddenly realized that she  _ **hated**_ roses, and that she didn't particularly like the light blue color, either, in fact she decided that she didn't even like the whole spectrum of blue, it made her want to vomit...

The next thing she knew, she was flying back down the stairs of the apartment complex, Roland's voice calling her name behind her as he rushed out the door.

Marianne's cheeks felt cool. She lifted her hand to her face, only to find her fingers wet with the tears that were, apparently, streaming down her face like a steady drizzle of rain. 

She hurried to her car, ignoring the questions of her concerned sister as Marianne started the car, Roland running around to her side of the car wearing nothing but his boxers that were covered in red hearts, which also made her decide that she hated the stupid shape of a heart as well, it was so  ** _stupid_** looking, it didn't even look like a real heart-

She cut off her train of thought and started the car, driving away from Roland as fast as she could. She was definitely speeding, and would probably get pulled over, but she didn't care-  **she needed to run away as fast as she could...**

And then she found herself pulled over in the parking lot of a McDonald's, crying into her hands as her confused sister rubbed her back, deciding to hold her questions for a later time.


	3. Humpty Dumpty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.  
> Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.  
> All the king's horses and all the king's men  
> Couldn't put Humpty together again.  
> Except Humpty Dumpty's name was actually Marianne.  
> And the king was actually Dawn.  
> And the wall was love.  
> Too much figurative language?  
> Sorry.  
> (Kind of)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm updating a lot more than I expected to... This is just so much darn fun to write!  
> As always, positive critique and suggestions are always loved!  
> Hope you like it!

~~5 months ago~~

  


_Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall._  


_Humpty Dumpty had a great fall._

_All the king's horses, and all the king's men,_

_Couldn't put Humpty together again._

Marianne thought of that particular children's story a lot, lately. In fact, she thought of a lot of Disney Princess movies a lot as of late. Probably because she envied them for their happy endings, because her happy ending was stolen from her. But that didn't matter. She didn't want to confront the thief.

Soon, that thought was pushed out of her head as she sat in the barber shop chair, staring at herself in the mirror. She faintly heard the barber say, "ready?" before she cut off all of her long, beautiful hair, and barely felt herself say yes as a reply. She didn't even really feel how light her head suddenly felt when the weight of her hair was taken from her head.

Why was she cutting off her hair?

Well, for one, it was too much to care for. Especially in the last month or so, when she barely moved from her bed or from staring at her laptop or phone screen. She barely brushed it, and it was late August and it was warm, so it was messy, and made her warm. And she didn't need it.

She told herself it wasn't because Roland liked her hair long.

No, it wasn't that.

Or, at least, she couldn't admit that to herself. She also couldn't admit that she had gotten rid of a lot of things about her that Roland liked, like wearing pale, pastel colors. She had always hated them, though she never would have said that a month ago. Not with how many times Roland told her she looked  _so pretty_ , like a fragile flower. 

Well, she hated being a fragile flower.

That was weak.

And she was tired of being weak.

So, she became who she was before she met Roland and was twisted into a mold that he made for her... except not exactly the same.

She wasn't as naive, or waiting for a Prince, or 20 years old. No, now she had iron walls around her that she forged herself, had sworn off men and love, and now she was 24.

Marianne still couldn't believed she had wasted  _four years of her life_ on Roland.

She shook the thought away as the barber asked her to follow her back to wash her hair.

  


~~3 months ago~~

Marianne sucked in a deep breath. She was next in line. She adjusted her batter's helmet, tucking a stray strand of hair back. She swung her bat a few times to get the motion engraved into her brain once more for just about the 12th time that day. She had been practicing as soon as she had gotten her hair cut, though, of course. It was obvious that she would pick up softball again after her break up with Roland, who had never approved of her, or any female, playing any sports at all. Back then, she had just shrugged it off as worry for her health and safety, but now that she was out, she knew it was because Roland thought a woman belonged at home while sports and work was a man's job.

So, she had dropped her full ride scholarship and put her classes on pause for him. Because he had asked her to. And she thought she loved him, so she did anything he asked her to do.

But now he was gone. And Marianne knew about his lies and the obvious sexism that she had mistaken for loving concern. Long story short, she felt stupid. She had ruined everything for herself, and wasted four years she could have used to finish her degree, all for a cheating ex fiance. 

Well, she had nothing better to do, so she picked up where she started as soon as she could.

And that meant softball try outs. 

So, here she was; she took a deep breath, positioned herself, swung, and-

-homerun.

Music to her ears. She nearly cried. She looked at the judges and their impressed faces, bowed slightly, and left the field. That was the last part of try outs. She could go home now.

Not even a week later, she got a call offering another full ride scholarship and a place on the softball team. And not just  _any_ place; she got offered  _catcher's position_ , the one position she had written on the application as her strong point and where she liked to be most.

At first, she waited to wake up, having fallen asleep watching Jenna Marbles do a Drunk Art School video. But, she didn't. She hadn't fallen asleep. This wasn't a dream. She had gone to try outs, and had immediately been offered her strongest position.

 _"Well, damn,_ " Marianne thought after she hung up the phone.  


  


~~Now~~

  


That had been three months ago, in October. The coach, an old woman who had been the OSU coach for as long as people could remember, had passed away just a few weeks after Marianne _and_ Dawn had been accepted into the team, receiving the scholarship. Marianne felt a sadness tug at her heart. She remembered the old lady, how sweet and patient she had been to Marianne. Dawn hadn't been on the team at the time, still being a junior in high school while Marianne was a Freshman in college, new to the team. But that was then, and this is now.

And the sweet old lady passing away is how Marianne met Mr. King.

Boggart King was a retired umpire for the big leagues who was the old coach's temporary replacement. Marianne was relieved at the word " __temporary".

To sum Boggart King up, Marianne would have to say he's a scaly backed cockroach that made a child with a pine tree, and said child was spoiled or something, because he turned out to be one of the biggest asshole pain in the necks she had ever met.

Aside from Roland.

No one could beat Roland at that game.

But Mr. King was a close second. 


End file.
